Food banks on the rise...

homelessskilledworker

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17852982


There's been a big rise in the number of people using food banks according to a charity which helps people who can't afford to eat.

The Trussell Trust, which runs over two hundred food banks in the UK, says it's seen demand nearly double in the last 12 months.

It comes just a day after the UK economy went into its first double dip recession since the 1970s.

The charity said it has opened two new food banks every week in the last year.
.uk/newsbeat/17852982




was watcing this article on the news last night, straight away I thought about this site and sites like it, and how on earth when we are in a postion like this and with things getting worse how could any sane person be advocating higher house prices or even rent as a good thing.

But people do, and I am sure they will continue as this thread will show.

People are going hungry, and a big part of the problem is peoples wages going on over priced property and rent.

pqrdef

Apparently you have to get a referral note to go to a food bank, and they're being handed out by the DWP.

gingeralan

homelessskilledworker wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17852982


There's been a big rise in the number of people using food banks according to a charity which helps people who can't afford to eat.

The Trussell Trust, which runs over two hundred food banks in the UK, says it's seen demand nearly double in the last 12 months.

It comes just a day after the UK economy went into its first double dip recession since the 1970s.

The charity said it has opened two new food banks every week in the last year.
.uk/newsbeat/17852982




was watcing this article on the news last night, straight away I thought about this site and sites like it, and how on earth when we are in a postion like this and with things getting worse how could any sane person be advocating higher house prices or even rent as a good thing.

But people do, and I am sure they will continue as this thread will show.

People are going hungry, and a big part of the problem is peoples wages going on over priced property and rent.

You make good points. As many people seem to agree shelter is an essential expense yet pricing is such that many people are now struggling to afford it along with the rest of life's expenses.

lostinrates

What is so hard to understand is the balance of rising rates of obesity at the same time.

wotsthat

lostinrates wrote: »

What is so hard to understand is the balance of rising rates of obesity at the same time.

I find increasing obesity and increasing reliance of food handouts difficult to reconcile too.

An easy argument is to say that, in the UK, it's not poor people who are fat. However, the last data I remember showed that obesity affected the poor more than better off people.

As I walk in Asda they've always got £1 packs of muffins, cookies or flapjacks available. That £1 will buy sufficient calories to sustain the average adult male for more than half a day. Clearly that's not very healthy but, as a nation, we are lucky to be able to buy staple foods at quite low prices and premiums for buying 'healthy' foods are low to non-existent.

I can't help thinking that people who arrive at foodbanks have many issues other than being skint. Clearly when the economy is poor these people will quickly fall out of the bottom.

I wonder if foodbanks are offering other support other than handing out food.

pqrdef

lostinrates wrote: »

What is so hard to understand is the balance of rising rates of obesity at the same time.

That's it then. All these so-called poor people, obviously just whining over nothing, they can't be really poor or they'd be bags of skin and bone. Right, cut their benefits.

alleycat`

pqrdef wrote: »

That's it then. All these so-called poor people, obviously just whining over nothing, they can't be really poor or they'd be bags of skin and bone. Right, cut their benefits.

Put the knee jerk away.
Nobody said lets slash benefits.

It was a fair point to make.
Obesity is rising but people can't afford food.
How has that come to pass?

heathcote123

pqrdef wrote: »

That's it then. All these so-called poor people, obviously just whining over nothing, they can't be really poor or they'd be bags of skin and bone. Right, cut their benefits.

This is probably a good case for giving them food vouchers instead of benefits, which just get spent on lambert & butler, cider, blu-ray player, ipods, smack etc.

alleycat`

heathcote123 wrote: »

This is probably a good case for giving them food vouchers instead of benefits, which just get spent on lambert & butler, cider, blu-ray player, ipods, smack etc.

Think they tried this.
They tended to sell them to other people (at a loss) for lambert and butler, cider, etc.

Just trying to give them the food as a weekly delivery was also a problem as such and such didn't like "insert x here" and such and such didn't like "insert y here".

heathcote123

alleycat` wrote: »

Think they tried this.
They tended to sell them to other people (at a loss) for lambert and butler, cider, etc.

Ah in that case, we need to directly give them really horrible food that noone else would buy. Turkey twizzlers maybe?

RenovationMan

Perhaps people need to be realistic about their housing needs. If they want to own a house then they should have enough income to afford to do so, the same if they want to rent. If they can't afford it then they need to look at cheaper areas.

If people are looking for a rental where their rent is subsidized by the taxpayer, maybe they had better realise that the gravy train is over and they should gird themselves to actually having to, wait for it, get a job?